Guest Column: Passover, the Festival of Freedom

Tuesday

Apr 19, 2011 at 12:01 AMApr 19, 2011 at 6:05 PM

The Jewish holiday of Passover began Monday after nightfall, at 8 p.m., and concludes at 8:34 p.m. on April 26. More than a mere commemoration of history, a Jewish holiday is an event that is personally experienced and relived each year.

Rabbi Chesky Rothman

The Jewish holiday of Passover began Monday after nightfall, at 8 p.m., and concludes at 8:34 p.m. on April 26.

More than a mere commemoration of history, a Jewish holiday is an event that is personally experienced and relived each year. Each Jewish holiday has a contemporary message for everyone in every time and place.

This is particularly true of Pesach. As our sages declare, “In every generation, a person is obligated to regard himself as if he personally left Egypt.”

This is the purpose of the Seder on Pesach eve: to provide every individual with an opportunity to experience an exodus from his own personal house of bondage.

Though we may never have been in Egypt, nor experienced actual slavery, redemption can be real for us, for, as Chabad Chassidic thought explains, Egypt is not only a geographical location but also a state of mind. In fact the Hebrew name for Egypt, Mitzrayim, is almost identical to the word meitzarim, which means straits or limitations.

On the personal level, Egypt symbolizes those influences and forces that confine and limit one’s spiritual potential. The nature of this personal Egypt varies according to one’s character and degree of refinement. One person’s Egypt may be defined by his selfish desires and natural drives; another’s, by the bounds of intellect and reason.

There is even an “Egypt of holiness,” a state in which a person committed to spiritual growth restricts his potential for advancement, accepting his natural limitations as permanent.

All of these Egypts confine our infinite G-dly nature. Leaving Egypt means leaping over all these (and any other) barriers and constraints, and bringing our infinite spiritual potential to the surface.

“How can I apply this concept to my daily life?” I may ask. Give pause to today’s challenges, or perhaps engage a close friend in this query. “What is limiting me right now from advancing my role in bringing goodness and kindness into our world?”

Experiencing a personal exodus from Egypt thus becomes relevant, extending far beyond the time of the Passover celebration and applying to every moment of our lives.

When the Exodus is understood this way, every dimension of spiritual conduct and every mitzvah or good deed a person performs becomes a step out of Egypt and an expression of one’s inner G-dly potential; an opportunity to realize his true self.

Adapted from the teachings of Rabbi Schneerson, whose inspiration led to the founding of Chabad of the Rockford Region. To learn more you may visit www.ChabadRockford.com/theRebbe

For everything about Passover, including how-to, customs, recipes, stories, the Seder and much, much more, visit ChabadRockford.com/Passover

Rabbi Chesky Rothman and his wife, Miriam, and their two young daughters have moved to Rockford to provide educational and social programming, servicing northern Illinois. They can be reached at office@ChabadRockford.com. If you would like to support their work so that they can continue to serve the community, please log onto their website www.ChabadRockford.com and give as often as possible.